Page 111 of Reckless Harmony

“It’s fine,” she said. “I have to be at the house of horrors at eight thirty to check on the dogs anyway.”

She leaned back and took his hand. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“About what?” he asked.

“About why you don’t want to meet with your father.”

He swallowed hard, his stomach churning acid until he tasted bile in the back of his throat. “Not really.”

“Okay,” she said, raising his hand to her mouth and kissing his knuckles. “But I’m happy to listen if you change your mind.”

He opened his mouth to say there was nothing to talk about and instead said, “He wants to meet with me and just expects me to do it, like he hasn’t ignored me for the last fucking eight years.”

She scooted closer, her warm, firm body pressing against his as she took his hand. “Do you know why he wants to meet?”

“No, and I don’t care. He’ll want something from me, and I’m not interested in giving it to him, no matter what it is.”

“What if it’s your forgiveness he wants?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What if he wants to say sorry for how he treated you?”

He laughed bitterly. “My father does not say sorry. Ever.”

“People change,” she said. “Eight years is a long time.”

He thought it over, Rayna sitting quietly next to him as she let him work it out in his head. Finally, he shook his head. “No, that isn’t it, Rayna. You don’t know him like I do. Feeling remorse or guilt for something he’s done is impossible for him. He’s a narcissistic sociopath who is incapable of loving anyone, including me and my mother.”

She squeezed his hand before resting her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Isaac.”

“I can’t meet with him,” he said, hating the slight waver in his voice. “I’ll talk to him on the phone, but to see him, after everything he put my mom and me through… I just can’t. When I told him I was starting my own company, do you know what he said to me?”

“What?” she asked gently.

“He told me that I would fail. That I was a stupid, naive idiot who didn’t have a clue about running a business or how to succeed. He said if I left, he’d disown me as a son because it would be too embarrassing to have people know I was his son when I failed.”

“Wow. I hate him,” she said.

He studied her, his voice hoarse when he said, “Me too.”

She kissed him, resting her forehead against his again. “It’s okay that you do, honey.”

“Is it?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes. Take it from someone who has a lot of parental trauma - your feelings are valid and absolutely normal. Why did you move to Harmony Falls? Was it to get away from your father?”

“No, it was easy enough to avoid him in New Cassel once I was an adult. I spent a few summers in Harmony Falls as a kid. My maternal grandparents had a cabin here, and my mother would send me to live with them during summer holidays.”

He stared off into space. “It was one of the best times of my life. I missed my mother, but not being around my father, not listening to him tell me how every single thing I did was wrong… it was a fucking relief. I could be myself here. I could breathe here.”

“I’m glad, honey,” she said.

“Will you tell me about your parents?” he asked.

She hesitated. “I didn’t bring them up to make this about me. I just wanted you to know that I understand and support you.”

“I know,” he said. “I’d still like you to tell me about them.”

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